Despite its enormous scale, the construction of the first phase of Real Madrid City accounted for less than 20% of the total of Valdebebas. It mainly included the building work on the football pitches and the office facilities, for which more than 3,150 employees worked hard to ensure that everything went to perfection.
 
Project data
 
The design of the initial concept was made between Florida and Madrid by an American company called EDSA which won the original design competition. The project teams were:
 
- Lamela Studio. General Architecture and Roof Structures.
- Euroconsult. Quality Control.
- CSP. Coordination of Health and Safety.
- Euroestudios. Traffic Infrastructure.
- Naos Arquitectura. Sports Surfaces and Solutions.
- Proyecto Ibérica. General and Traffic Infrastructures. Building Engineering.
- EDSA – SCP – Prointec – GIS. Exterior Architecture and Infrastructure. Landscaping and Gardening.
 
The project was managed by Bovis Lend Lease. Due to the specific nature of each part of the design and special nature of each operation and service, practically all of the departments of the club participated in the design and conceptualization of the project.
 
Design data
 
The following have participated directly in the definition of the Real Madrid City Project:
 
- 23 architects.
- 5 technical architects.
- 12 engineers.
- 4 technical engineers.
- 8 designers, administrative staff and others.
 
Some curious facts and specific data
- Over 900,000 m3 of earth was removed.
- There is a service gallery which is 940 metres long.
- 53,000 metres of pipes and more than 225.000 metres of cables were installed.
- There are 210 fixed relay transfer points.
- Of the total surface area of 222,000 m2, 120,000 m2 are sports areas, 60,000 m2 are garden areas, 25,000 m2 are buildings and the rest is made up of different infrastructures for entrance, distribution and stands for spectators.
- The total seating capacity of Phase I A is 6,000 spectators along with standing room for another 5,000 people.
- 100 % of the space used has direct natural lighting..
- The City has a café-restaurant called ‘La Cantera’ which can make up to 300 meals and has some 500 m2 of space inside and an outdoor terrace area with 200 m2.
- The irrigation system uses approximately 800 m3 of water every day and another 250 m3 of water is used for sanitation.
- There is a weather station at the Sports City which provides the information necessary to control the pitch irrigation system and the air-conditional and heating systems.
- The total investment in Phase I A was around 70 million euros and the work was carried out in the space of 15 months
 
3.150 employees: the workforce
More than 200 people worked on a daily basis on Real Madrid Sports City, although at certain times this figure reached 500. In total, more than 3,000 people were involved in the construction project. Most of these workers were employed by the joint venture set up by FCC and OHL, which involved more than 80 subcontractors and freelance workers to make a total of 350 people. According to Sara Colmenares, the Coordinator for Health and Safety at Real Madrid, safety in the workplace was of paramount importance.